Jonathan Lane, Gleadell’s trading director, comments on the OSR market

The CBOT soybean futures market had a large move up breaking above resistance. We have seen strong demand for soybeans, but the main driver for the break-out was heavy short-covering by managed money.  The US harvest continues at a good pace with good weather.

The MATIF futures market has made a new high for the move trading slightly above €380. We clearly have an uptrend in place at present, but the market feels a little over-extended.  In the UK we have seen good volumes of farmer selling as target levels above £260/t ex farm were hit for pre-Christmas positions. The UK market was also aided by a firmer euro as UK inflation data hit the market. Towards the end of the week we saw crushers pulling back buying ideas on weak margins.